An email archive is an automatic system that records and stores copies of emails for either an individual or organization. It is unlikely that any individual sends and receives enough email to warrant such a system, but it is possible. The storage must be tamper proof and be able to be searched, indexed and audited.
 

Any email archiving system needs to comply with the laws and guidelines of the respective countries to be effective. In the modern business world, interaction is often international, and geographic and governmental boundaries are crossed millions of times a day. Any effective archiving solution must bear this in mind and ensure that it complies with all the relevant laws.
 

Who needs email archiving?
 

Any organization that does business by email or uses email to communication either within or without is likely to need to be able to securely store and retrieve email. This need to retrieve the email can be for internal needs, evidential needs or for an audit to ensure compliance. It isn't only to comply with laws that archiving is useful. Any organization that produces a lot of email is going to need to store it somewhere. Messaging servers are not designed to be storage servers. The more resources taken up by storing and retrieving email, the less it will have for its primary functions. This is a cumulative effect and will get steadily worse and the volumes increase.
 

Taking the burden of archiving away from messaging servers allows them to concentrate on processing mail and so prevents slowing down of email traffic and the longevity of your mail infrastructure. This turns into dollars as the reliance on email increases day to day. It can be frustrating waiting for email to be sent or received, and cause unnecessary delays in transactions when it happens.
 

A good archive solution would prevent this from happening and allow you to concentrate on doing business.